LoonWatch presents a detailed analysis of the South Park controversy – only slightly marred by a favourable reference to the “award winning British author”, Kenan “Islamophobia Myth” Malik.
EDL threatens violent confrontation in Aylesbury
The national leader of the English Defence League yesterday warned that Saturday’s demonstration in Aylesbury could be the first of many after a bitter row erupted with police and council bosses.
Officers were hoping to keep EDL members on the outskirts of town before a rally in Market Square, to prevent skirmishes with counter demonstrators. But yesterday Tommy Robinson – not his real name – said EDL protestors are now planning to evade police and instead gather in Vale Park – where an anti-EDL demonstration is due to be held.
He said: “If our demonstration doesn’t go how we want it to go, we’ll come back in six weeks. No other place has tried to block us like this one has.”
The EDL fell foul of police and council chiefs after trying to put up a stage and use loudspeakers – which they need a licence for. At a tense meeting on Monday, they were also told that they were not allowed to carry wooden framed banners. Coachloads of EDL members would have been met by police and escorted to Market Square, where they would have been contained inside solid barriers.
Robinson said ominously: “We don’t think they’re doing well if they want it to go peacefully.”
Poll: half of Europeans oppose headscarf in schools
Just over half of Europeans surveyed opposed allowing Islamic headscarves in schools but backed the presence of crucifixes in classrooms, according to a Spanish study obtained by AFP Wednesday.
A total 52.6 per cent of those polled in 12 European Union member states along were “opposed” or “totally opposed” to the use of the garment in schools, according to the study carried out by the research department of BBVA, Spain’s second-largest bank. Opposition to the veil was highest in Bulgaria with 84.3 per cent against and France with 68.7 per cent opposed and it was lowest in Poland with only 25.6 per cent against followed by Denmark with 28.1 per cent opposed.
By contrast 54.4 per cent of those polled were in favour of classrooms displaying crucifixes. In Spain and Italy, two nations with a strong Roman Catholic tradition, support for the use of crucifixes in classrooms stood at 69.9 per cent and 49.3 per cent respectively. Support for the use of crucifixes in classrooms shot up to 77 per cent in Britain and 78.8 per cent in Denmark.
New York rally for united Jerusalem and against international Islamist jihad
About 2,500 people rallied in the rain for a united Jerusalem, on Sunday, April 25. They understood the attempt to detach Jerusalem from Israel as piecemeal conquest. They came to support Israeli existence and self-determination.
Organized by Beth Galinsky of the Jewish Action Alliance, 50 organizations of Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and Christians demonstrated at the Israeli Consulate.
See Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs.
Update: See also “Feeling the hate in New York”, LoonWatch, 29 April 2010
Sun pays out over ‘terror case doc’ libel
A doctor accepted “substantial” libel damages at the high court today over false allegations in the Sun linking him to terrorism. Dr Mohammed Asha, who is based in the Midlands, launched legal action after the Sun carried a front page article last August under the heading “Terror case doc works in casualty”.
Leo Dawkins, the solicitor representing Dr Asha, told Mr Justice Eady in the high court in London today that the allegations were that “there were very strong grounds to suspect that the claimant would be involved in the future in terrorist bomb plots and was, therefore, an ongoing threat to national security”.
He added: “There is no truth in these allegations whatsoever. The article complained of was published to millions of people and has been devastating for the claimant, causing him immense damage both personally and professionally.”
Dawkins said the defendant, News Group Newspapers, the News International subsidiary that publishes the Sun, “accepted that the allegations complained of were entirely false and without foundation”. The defendant had offered to pay Dr Asha “substantial compensation and his legal costs”.
Patrick Callaghan, solicitor for NGN, told the court: “The defendant offers its sincerest apologies to Dr Asha for the damage it has caused and is pleased to set the record straight.”
Dr Asha said in a statement: “The damage caused by The Sun has been incalculable, causing both myself and my family immense hurt and distress, not to mention worries over my own personal safety. I am glad this terrible ordeal is finally over and that The Sun has apologised and agreed to pay me compensation and my legal costs.”
Press Association, 27 April 2010
See also “Dr Mohammed Asha: Apology, Sun, 3 March 2010
IRR publishes briefing paper on the French move to ban the veil
As Belgium and France move to ban the burqa, the IRR European Race Audit (ERA) publishes today a briefing paper on ‘The background to the French parliamentary commission on the burqa and niqab’.
It examines how André Gerin, the Communist Party mayor of Vénissieux, ignited the debate on the voile intégral in a country where, it is estimated, that a total of 2,000 women wear the burqa. It describes the various arguments used to justify the ban from upholding laïcité to opposing the rise of Salafism and defending the freedom and dignity of women.
Institute of Race Relations news release, 28 April 2010
Download the briefing paper here.
Mother refuses to allow daughter to take part in school visit to mosque
A mother is keeping her daughter off school after refusing to give her permission to take part in a trip to a Liverpool mosque. Michelle Davis, of Bodiam Court, Ellesmere Port, claims she’s been left with no choice but to keep 14-year-old daughter Amy Owen at home today after Ellesmere Port Catholic High School’s headteacher Peter Lee tried to encourage the pupil into participating.
Miss Davies said: “I objected to Amy being made to dress like a Muslim girl, the original letter from the school gave a dress code for the visit, including long skirts, leggings or tights and covering up her head. She’s been brought up in the Catholic faith and religion, Amy is not a Muslim and shouldn’t be told to dress like one.”
Respect calls for ban on EDL demonstrations
Left-wing party Respect called for a ban on demonstrations by the far-right English Defence League, as it launched its election manifesto.
Birmingham candidate Salma Yaqoob, the party’s leader, joined high-profile candidate George Galloway in London to launch the manifesto, which also includes plans for an annual anti-racism concert in every major city.
Respect says it is hoping to gain seats in Birmingham Hall Green, where Ms Yaqoob is standing, and in Poplar and Limehouse, London, where Mr Galloway is the party’s candidate.
Measures in the manifesto include a ban on demonstrations by the English Defence League (EDL), which held a protest in Dudley earlier this month that put the town into lockdown.
The EDL, which has also held demonstrations in Birmingham which descended into violence, says it is opposed to Islamic extremism. Critics accuse it of having links to the far-right and claim it is simply opposed to Islam and Muslims in general.
The Respect manifesto also includes plans for annual anti-racism concerts in every major city in the country, based on London’s annual Rise anti-racism festival, which ran from 1996 to 2008.
Birmingham Post, 27 April 2010
See also Respect news release, 26 April 2010
Glenn Greenwald on religion and censorship
Glenn Greenwald replies to an op-ed piece by Ross Douthat in the New York Times which claims that “the ‘South Park’ case is particularly illuminating … it’s a reminder that Islam is just about the only place where we draw any lines at all … Our culture has few taboos that can’t be violated, and our establishment has largely given up on setting standards in the first place. Except where Islam is concerned.”.
Greenwald presents an effective demolition of the idea that “threat-induced censorship is a uniquely Islamic practice”.
Jack Straw apologises for 2006 ‘veil’ comments
As the burqa debate raged in France this weekend, with the imposition of the first instant fine to a woman found wearing the burqa in a public place in Nantes, here in the UK former Justice Minister, Jack Straw, publicly apologised for having sparked controversy in October 2006 over making public his views that he would prefer Muslim women not to wear a face veil – or niqab – when visiting his MP’s surgery.
At a pre-election hustings event organised in Blackburn yesterday (Sunday 25th April) by ENGAGE, Jack Straw, addressing a packed hall of local Muslim residents, expressed his regret at having caused a negative media storm which he acknowledged may have adversely impacted on the Muslim community.
He said: “To be blunt, if I had realised the scale of publicity that they [his comments] received in October 2006, I wouldn’t have made them and I am sorry that it has caused problems and I offer that apology.
“Can I just say, this is about an issue of communication (you understand). I wasn’t raising it to say it [the burqa] should be banned – quite the opposite. Let me say, I’m not responsible for those in France or Germany or in this country pursuing this. That is their business. I am fundamentally opposed to what they are doing.
“But if you ask me the specific question: Do I regret the fact that it [my comments] had then got taken round the world and taken out of context? Yes of course I do and I go on seeing people – Muslim women, wearing the full veil in my constituency advice surgery. I wouldn’t dream of treating them other than with respect and I think they know from me that I do give them respect and I give them as much help as I give anybody else whatever their faith. And I am really glad to have had that opportunity to clear that up.”
ENGAGE press release, 26 April 2010
See also the Daily Mail, which reports Islamophobic rentaquote Tory MP Philip Davies as saying:
“This seems like a shameless effort to muster up some Muslim votes in his constituency. Jack Straw was more than happy to milk the publicity at the time, but now he has realised that his comments have not gone down too well with is own constituents. It is pretty desperate stuff to be apologising on the eve of a General Election when he has had plenty of opportunity to do so in the past.”
This is the same Philip Davies whose response to a 2007 legal ruling that Muslim women would be allowed to wear the veil in court was: “People are entitled to see what is going on. All this pussy-footing around, judges have no comprehension of the damage they’re doing for community cohesion by coming out with this barmy stuff.”